phone?”
“Oh yeah. With the winters up here, it’d be crazy…crap.” Maris’s checks the caller ID. “It’s Brad.”
Brad. Bradley Meyers. One of Jed’s closest friends. A wash of nausea I decide to attribute to jet lag hits. Calmly, I pick up my coffee and take a sip before saying, “Shouldn’t you get that?”
“I…” Maris stammers. “Shit.” Snatching up the phone, she answers, “Brad.” There’s a pause. “No, everything is handled. All arrangements are made; thank you for offering.” Her eyes drift over to me. “Dean’s family made it in late.” Another pause. “I appreciate the thought, but they’re really not in a condition to meet anyone right now.”
I mouth, “Thank you,” to her, because while I know the cocoon around us won’t last longer than the reading of the will, having this time to acclimate is critical for the mental well-being of my son. Jennings’s son. The son I tried for years to contact him about.
Well, there’s nothing I want or need from Jennings any longer, I tell myself firmly. It was a struggle, but in the end, we made it with more than most single-parent families. We live comfortably in a two-bedroom apartment not far from where I work, and Kevin is well adapted due to the two incredible male role models in his life. And if I secretly wonder if I’m going to be enough to get him through this next stage of growing to become everything I knew he could be from the moment he was laid in my arms, well, that’s on me.
In many ways, I came to peace with the fact Jennings never wanted anything to do with his son long ago because he gave me something much better than a man’s love. Jed believed his friend’s life would be shaken by the news about his son. I have my doubts, but I guess we’ll all know soon enough. I just wish my son wasn’t old enough to be witness if it doesn’t go the way Jed predicted it would. Whereas I’ll leave with the love that grew out of my body and soul, I want Kevin’s heart just as intact—if not more so—than we arrived. Is that going to be possible?
Just then, as I half listen to Maris wrap up her call with Brad, Kevin stumbles into the kitchen.
Everything comes second place to my son: ambitions, goals, dreams. They fade under the glow of Kevin’s eyes when he spies me sitting at the counter. These are the moments every parent lives for—sharing everyday love and aches with a person connected to your soul. Jennings doesn’t know that by his own choices.
Kevin comes directly to me, giving me a brush of his cheek before he goes to snatch my coffee. Shaking my head, I hand it over. “I’ll just go get another one,” I tease, brushing my hand along his jaw.
“Thanks, Mom.” He yawns, mumbling his appreciation.
Maris wraps up her call. “Well, I staved off the welcoming committee,” she announces before turning around and spotting Kevin. “Oh, hey, kid. I didn’t see you there.”
“Welcoming committee?” he asks.
“Some people who knew Uncle Jed wanted to come by. I’m not ready to be social. For the next few days, I’d like to get acclimated to being here, to the time change, to everything.” I tell my son the truth without explaining it all. Not yet. I’ll have to do that soon enough. I’m doing my best to protect him from anything ugly at the moment while his emotions are all over the place.
“Right.” The one word he bites off says a million of them.
Maris and I exchange concerned looks. I open my mouth, but Kevin’s words come out first. “Mom, when are you going to let me take care of you now that I’m the last man of our family?” He puts his mug down with a snap much the way Dean did his entire life.
“Kevin,” I manage. The wound in my heart I thought was healing the tiniest bit gapes wide open. I’m surprised the blood pouring from it isn’t seeping into Maris’s kitchen floor.
“Got no one else to take care of you now.” His head twists to Maris. “And I want to meet your friends. I need to get a read on them to make certain they’re good people.”
I have to clutch the counter in front of me. I can’t breathe. “Baby, you’re just fifteen,” I murmur. “You have years…”
But Kevin doesn’t agree. “I’m the only man left!” he shouts. “The only one. Dean’s gone; Jed’s